Bin men start work to rule over plans to slash wages

Published on Saturday 27 June 2009 11:10

RUBBISH collections in the Capital have been thrown into chaos after bin men began working to rule over plans to cut their pay.

The council said bin collections would be delayed and told homeowners to leave their waste out if it is not collected normally.

The action is in response to pay proposals that have been the subject of negotiations with unions.

Andrea McHugh, the council's head of environment said: "We would like to reassure residents that we are doing everything we can to minimise the disruption to our customers. Every effort is being made to ensure that all refuse still awaiting collection is picked up as soon as possible."

Thousands of council staff will have their wages slashed as part of proposals to scrap bonuses.

Bin men are among those who could see their pay packets hit under plans to change the current system, in which wages are supplemented with payments for attendance and productivity.

It is understood the move could see refuse collectors on a wage of around 230 a week lose around half of the 120 they receive in bonuses – around 3,000 a year.

One bin man who contacted the Evening News said his wage would be slashed from 242 to 170 a week. He said staff had begun a work to rule which would see the Royal Mile "piled high" with uncollected rubbish.

The proposed cuts are among a series of modernisation measures which are currently being considered by the council, and are part of a move to simplify pay arrangements for public sector workers across the country.

Among the measures are a review of "single status" arrangements relating to the disparity in pay between men and woman.

Many female council workers do not receive bonuses and scrapping the payments for their male counterparts is seen as a way of making the system fairer.

The council has proposed the introduction of 12 broad pay grades, which it said would lead to around 20 per cent of staff having reduced pay after three years.

The council said around 80 per cent of its staff would not lose out, with around a fifth of those gaining from the proposals.

Stephen MacGregor, convener with the Unite union for the city council, said: "The council want to slash certain workers' wages from 18,000 to 12,000, in effect nearly halving their wage. Their version of equality is to bring men down to the level of women who have historically been discriminated against by the council."

John Stevenson, Unison branch president at the council, said letters will be sent to workers on 6 July.

A council spokeswoman said: "Modernising our pay and conditions of employment will help to make sure that pay for our employees is fair in comparison to their colleagues."